Don’t Sabotage Your Home Exercise Program

What if I told you that it was possible to have a home exercise program that’s even more effective than any gym routine?

Fireworks, happy-face emoji’s and unicorns, right?

I agree.

I’m going to tell you exactly how I did it. (So you can do it, too.)

Let me explain…

We’re all lazy by nature. And I’m frequently the worst.

Just yesterday you could’ve seen me nearly kill myself on an illegally parked hoverboard because of my stubborn refusal to make two trips from the garage into my kitchen with the groceries. (One trip, I say! Of course I can manage 40 bags a short distance! And besides, who has time to walk 20 feet twice? I. Am. (sometimes) Lazy.)

This tendency to be lazy (especially when we’re at home) is why you need to take note of my advice here today.

I’m going to help you optimize your home exercise program so that it’ll be nearly impossible to find an excuse to get out of it.

But first consider these two benefits to a home exercise program…

Two Good Reasons You Should Embrace a Home Exercise Program

Traffic

I don’t know about you but I’d rather do pretty much anything else than sit in traffic.

Exercising at home means there’s one less thing on your To-Do list that puts you in traffic.

*Happy face*

You’re welcome.

Selfish Pleasures

You can’t really relax at the gym.

But you can at home.

Scratch it, adjust it or let it rip. No one cares anymore.

And sometimes it’s the small things that matter, ain’t it?

Let’s get started perfecting your home exercise plan…

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10 THINGS I DID (and that you can do) TO MAKE HOME EXERCISE AWESOME

Pick the Good Stuff

This advice is for anyone who has ONE exercise video that they’ve been doing since 1985 and then regularly complains that working out at home is boring.

This is workout sabotage.

Invest in several exercise videos.

Don’t know which ones to purchase?

You can learn more about your choices by reading reviews of exercise videos on sites like mine before you buy them.

It’s worth your time and a little bit of effort to learn more about an exercise video before you spend money on it.

Have Good Tools

I know. I know. First I tell you to buy new exercise videos, then a big ass TV, a fancy outfit and now equipment?! Wth! Do I think you’re made of money?

Tell me this…

How much money did you spend last year on eating out? What about on shoes? Or your nails? What about your hair? I’m not even gonna remind you what you paid for that purse.

If you need some dumbbells, a mat, and an exercise step so you can do more than one exercise video then go get it. It’s an investment in your health (unlike eating out or any of that other stuff).

And don’t get the cheapest equipment they make. C’mon. This is important.

Do a little research. Some of the cheapest equipment can actually be dangerous. (For starters, do NOT get a tiny exercise step. I’ll have to come neck slap you if you spend your hard earned money on a little step with skinny supports under it because it was cheap. You’ll kill yourself. I have one. It’s not pretty when you flip that thing. Buy an exercise platform (aerobic step) like this one for safety reasons).

Decorate

Remember that gym you used to spend money on? They have to decorate those places to make the whole city happy.

Well, guess who’s president of the Home Gym Design Committee? That’s right. You are.

This is one of the best things about a home exercise plan. It’s your space. Make wherever you’re doing your exercise your gym.

Print some motivational quotes off the internet and slap them on the wall.

Buy a poster like this one or one of these, and hang it where you can see it when you work out.

Or grab some typing paper and write down “Reminder—I’m a Badass” or “Don’t Be a Wimp” or whatever phrases make you push yourself through a workout, and plaster them up in your exercise space.

Or hey, nail up a picture of Burt Reynolds (haha, yep, I’m old but not that old), Justin Beiber, or Ronda Rousey on the wall.

If there’s an athlete or musician that rings your bell then cover the whole damn room in their image. Whatever. I don’t care. But have fun, make it work for you.

Keep It Clean

This might not seem important but it is.

Remember how we’ve been talking about how to avoid all those ways you can sabotage your home workout?

Our lazy human nature will pounce on this excuse like a girl on a loaf of bread after a week (or hour) of no carbs. (It’ll only take me a second to disinfect this, scrub that and arrange those and then I’ll start my workout…which never happens.)

Listen up.

Remove the Diaper Genie from your exercise area. Steam-clean the carpet where Fido peed or your cousin puked last year. Don’t pile up the laundry or bills in your exercise space.

Your face is going to be in that carpet when you’re doing planks, push-ups and stretches.

And you don’t need anything to look at to remind you of what you need to do later.

Don’t set yourself up for failure.

Even if the rest of your house looks like the Tasmanian devil just spun through it, keep that one space organized and clean.

This keeps you from making excuses to avoid a workout.

Plus, it’s a safer place to do your jumps, lunges, kicks and all that other exercisey stuff.

Take It Seriously

Your home exercise program is important so act like it. Plan it out.

Having a plan is a very important part of making your home exercise program successful.

Don’t exercise on a whim. Pencil it into your day.

Also, don’t start a workout in the middle of a load of laundry or schedule a conference call or a maintenance visit during the time you always do your workout.

If you know your bowels move every day at 10:46, don’t start your exercise at 10:30—c’mon don’t set yourself up for failure.

Pick a time that will be the easiest to maintain as much as possible.

It doesn’t have to be the exact same schedule day in and out but try to exercise at the same time as often as you can.

Then on those days you have appointments you can’t control do your exercise BEFORE your appointment.

Remember how you used to have to make sure you went to the gym at a very specific time to avoid a huge crowd or that guy in the corner that sweats and stares?

Well, now you don’t have to worry about crowds or creepers but you do have to plan around life. Life happens at home.

Don’t sabotage your home exercise program by not penciling in your workout as a priority.

At the same time every day PLAN to stop what you’re doing and go to your exercise space and be a badass for an hour.

Take your fitness seriously. Make a plan.

Ban the Discouragers & Distractors

I’m not going to mention any names but you know that person who lives in your house and thinks it’s really funny to tease everyone?

They aren’t allowed in your workout space.

Also, you know those high-maintenance individuals who live in your house and ask for food and clothing and where they left their stuff all the time?

They aren’t allowed in your workout space.

Remember how I told you to make a plan? The best plan is to workout when these people aren’t home but that’s not always possible.

So, make it clear to naysayers, jokesters, and needy barnacles who live with you that for one hour no one is allowed to bug you.

The rule in our house that seems to work is that when I’m working out you better not come in the room unless you plan to exercise with me, someone is at the door, or you (or someone else in the house), is bleeding.

Form An Alliance

You know how some things are easier to do if a bunch of people do it with you?

Find a friend, cousin, co-worker, or neighbor who has a home exercise program, too.

Become friends on social media or make them your texting buddy. You need someone else to communicate with who you can vent to when exercising at home is crappy and who will be a cheerleader when your home exercise program is kicking ass.

An even better idea? Sign up with that person to do a fitness event (a run or mud race) and train for it at home.

My sisters are my workout team. We sign up for a race or mud event once a year. We don’t live near each other but we communicate almost every day about our training (we all exercise at home) and then come together for the event.

It works. It’s fun. It keeps us from getting lazy and skipping a month of workouts.

Power It Down

Remember how we talked about banning discouragers from your workout space because they keep you from focusing?

This may be hard to do but you must turn off your phone when you’re exercising.

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